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Assessment of toxicity of volatile fatty acids to Photobacterium phosphoreum

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Abstract

The toxicity of four volatile fatty acids (VFAs) as anaerobic digestion (AD) intermediates was investigated at pH 7. Photobacterium phosphoreum T3 was used as an indicator organism. Binary, ternary and mixtures of AD intermediates were designated by letters A (acetic acid + propionic acid), B (acetic acid + butyric acid), C (acetic acid + ethanol), D (propionic acid + butyric acid), E (propionic acid + ethanol), F (butyric acid + ethanol), G (acetic acid + propionic acid + butyric acid), H (acetic acid + propionic acid + ethanol), I (acetic acid + butyric acid+ ethanol), J (propionic acid + butyric acid + ethanol) and K (acetic acid + propionic acid + butyric acid + ethanol) to assess the toxicity through equitoxic mixing ratio method. The IC50 values of acetic acid, propionic acid, butyric acid and ethanol were 9.812, 7.76, 6.717 and 17.33 g/L respectively, displaying toxicity order of: butyric acid > propionic acid > acetic acid > ethanol being additive in nature. The toxic effects of four VFAs could be designated as synergistic and one additive in nature.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Environmental Engineering, Zhejiang University, Hangzhou, 310058, China

    Bibi Saima Zeb, Zheng Ping, Qiu Lin, Hui-feng Lu, Chen Tingting & Ghulam Abbas

  2. Department of Environmental Sciences, COMSATS Institute of Information Technology, Abbottabad, 22060, Pakistan

    Bibi Saima Zeb & Qaisar Mahmood

  3. Industrial Technology Research Institute of Zhejiang University, Hangzhou, China

    Chen Tingting

Authors
  1. Bibi Saima Zeb
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  2. Qaisar Mahmood
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  3. Zheng Ping
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  5. Hui-feng Lu
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  6. Chen Tingting
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  7. Ghulam Abbas
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Correspondence to Qaisar Mahmood.

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Zeb, B.S., Mahmood, Q., Ping, Z. et al. Assessment of toxicity of volatile fatty acids to Photobacterium phosphoreum . Microbiology 83, 510–515 (2014). https://doi.org/10.1134/S0026261714050294

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